University of Iowa sets grand opening for new residence hall in July

IOWA CITY - Just in time for next fall's new students to start moving in, the University of Iowa on July 28 officially will dedicate its newest and now biggest residence hall, a 12-story building that will add 1,049 beds on the east side of campus.

Elizabeth Catlett Residence Hall - which features three towers overlooking the Iowa River and boasts amenities such as a new marketplace, cafe, study rooms, lounges and laundry facilities - sits just west of Burge and Currier residence halls on the site of the old Iowa City Water Plant along Madison Street.

The $95 million project loosens the university's ever-tightening housing belt - as its freshman classes have grown and more returning students have asked to live on campus.

The demand has pushed the university's on-campus housing occupancy above its capacity, prompting Housing and Dining officials to lease off-campus space, turn double rooms into triples, and morph hallway lounges into makeshift dorm rooms.

Catlett Hall - named after one of three UI students to earn the first master of fine arts degrees in the country and the first African American woman to do so - will increase the university's on-campus housing capacity to more than 7,000.

It's the second new hall the university has built in two years. The Mary Louise Petersen Residence Hall in 2015 became the university's first new on-campus hall since Slater Residence Hall went up in 1968. Petersen Hall's 10 floors house more than 500 students on the west side of campus.

The university in 2015 received permission to pursue a third new residence hall - one that would have added 500 to 600 suite-style beds on the west side, near athletic facilities. But, with UI President Bruce Harreld aiming to limit growth instead of spur it, administrators in September announced that no longer was an active project.

This fall's debut of Catlett Hall will allow the university to temporarily close Parklawn Hall for renovations. Parklawn - the university's smallest residence hall, housing 98 students - offers apartment-style suites with kitchens on the north end of campus, near the arts campus and the UI marching band practice field.

The university plans to reopen Parklawn in fall 2018. In the meantime, assignment coordinators are working with the 51 returning students who had selected Parklawn as their residence of choice for this fall.

Those students can choose from apartment-style space in other buildings across campus - in some cases at a lower rate, according to the university.

UI Housing and Dining is a self-supporting enterprise, meaning it doesn't receive tax dollars or general education fund revenue to operate. Rather, revenue from room and board rates - which the state Board of Regents recently agreed to increase - maintain the 11 residence halls.

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